Saddest Songs of All Time

[Louis VI the Fat]

Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen.

Why it's the saddest song:
Ballads are never sad. Songs need tension, ambiguity. The pumping drums, that keyboard melody, the vocals shouted at the top of his lungs both perfectly capture the theme of the lyrics and contrast with them. The nuance of the lyrics are in great contradiction to the unsubtleness of the music. It is a sad song, introverted. The lone thoughts of a lone man, abandoned. The words ought to be mumbled by an embittered man, alone on his porch. Uttered by that drunk you walked past earlier that day, avoiding eyecontact.


Strike against it: Like a video of Neda, unbearable to sit out. You want to cast your eyes downwards, avoid the shame, the intrusion.
The greatness is the ambiguity with the bombastic stadium rock anthem music.